Ott's overtime goal lifts Sabres past Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Jonas Enroth prevented the Buffalo Sabres from blowing two points with a huge save late in the third period. Steve Ott took advantage of a Montreal penalty in overtime to make sure they banked both of them.
Ott scored his second goal of the game on a power play 2:16 into the extra period and Buffalo ended Montreal's five-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory over the Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Jhonas Enroth made 32 saves in his fifth start, his third in six games, including a glove grab on Brian Gionta's redirection with 15.9 seconds left in regulation.
"I buried my head," Ott said. "It was such a phenomenal save. We'll see that one on a highlight reel for sure tonight. He kept us in this game. He's the reason why we won that game tonight by far and we needed that. We needed somehow someone to save that game for us and he really did that."
Enroth saw that Max Pacioretty, who scored Montreal's first goal earlier in the third, was going to make a centering pass to Gionta.
"I thought I read that play pretty well," Enroth said. "I saw he was going to pass and I'm kind of a bit lucky that Gionta didn't get the whole stick on the shot, I think. It was a little bit of luck, but a lot skill, too."
Ott, who scored in the first along with Tyler Ennis, got his second goal of the game off a scramble in front of the Montreal goal after Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban was sent off for high-sticking 17 seconds into overtime.
"That was a bad penalty," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "We'll make sure that it doesn't happen again."
Colby Armstrong tied it with 3:51 left in the third. Armstrong, who failed to score in his first 27 games, drew the Canadiens even at 2 with his second goal in as many games when Alex Galchenyuk set him up in the goalmouth.
Pacioretty scored 7:04 into the third period as Montreal overcame a 2-0 deficit.
Montreal killed a penalty late in the third after Pacioretty was called for interfering with Enroth at 17:29.
Carey Price stopped 18 shots for the Canadiens, who have lost in regulation only once in their last 18 games (13-1-4).
"We battled for that point and it's an important point but it's still tough because if we would have had played better in the first I'm sure there would have been a better outcome," Gionta said.
Montreal leads the Northeast Division with 43 points, two ahead of Boston, which lost 3-1 in Winnipeg.
Sabres scoring leader Thomas Vanek was favoring his right side after he was struck by Jason Pominville's shot midway through the second. He left the game and did not return.
Ott scored his first goal in 14 games 7:47 into the first. Ennis made it 2-0 at 18:59 when he scored his eighth goal of the season, his first in eight games.
Ott opened the scoring with an unassisted effort. He drove a slap shot from the slot over Price's glove for his fourth goal.
Moments later Jochen Hecht moved towards the slot and took and wrist shot that squirted under Price's arm and went wide.
Ennis made it a two-goal lead with 1:01 left in the first. He deflected Tyler Myers' shot through traffic from the right point past Price. Myers' assist was his first point in 10 games.
Brendan Gallagher set up Montreal's first goal when he shook off two Buffalo checkers in the left corner and fed a pass to the slot, where Pacioretty put a shot past Enroth for his ninth goal.
Sabres left wing Marcus Foligno and Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin got fighting majors for their bout 15:35 into the second.
Patrick Kaleta was back in the Sabres' lineup for the first time in seven games. Buffalo coach Ron Rolston did not dress Kaleta for Sunday's 5-3 loss in Washington even though the Sabres forward was eligible to return after serving a five-game suspension for his hit from behind on New York's Brad Richards.
NOTES: The two teams meet again at the Bell Centre on Saturday night. Before then, the Sabres play Thursday at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Canadiens play the Islanders in New York on Thursday. ... Sabres goalie Ryan Miller sat for the second time in four games. Miller, who has made 25 starts, had a 9-13-4 record, a 2.96 goals-against-average and a .909 save percentage in 26 games through Monday. ... Canadiens left wing Rene Bourque skated with his teammates Tuesday morning for the first time since he suffered a concussion late last month. Bourque, who has five goals and five assists in 17 games, wore a non-contact jersey at the morning skate and missed his 12th game in a row. ... Montreal defenseman Tomas Kaberle was left out of the lineup for a sixth straight game. ... The Canadiens assigned forward Michael Blunden to AHL Hamilton earlier Tuesday